Finding Why
by Colors Of The Dawn
Summary: Finding why Katie feels so strange around the new band, her best friend, and the boy she seems to be attracted to. Set in an audition for new bands, then a tour, where drama ensues.
1. Chapter 1

Hey ya'll, this is my first story with so please give me some criticism. I need it to continue with this story.

Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of anything School of Rock. However, the ProJams audition is mine, as well as all the bands and characters you do not recognize.

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_Mr. Dewey Finn,_

_My name is Bradley Chaster, and I am the founder of the ProJams Rock Band Auditions. I am writing to you, in hopes that you and the seven members of your band will join me and Luke Willow, our host, at the competition._

_Your role in the competition would be as judges, and esteemed guests of honor this May 12th at the Nature's Path Café on the south side of Rose Boulevard. _

_The prizes, should you agree, would be a small record deal with ProJams, a ProJams sponsored international tour with School of Rock, your band, and a free concert for the school of the winners._

_Thank you for taking time out of your day to read my invitation, and we hope to be hearing from you in acceptance before the 3rd of May._

_Sincerely,_

_Bradley Chaster, founder_

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**At the School of Rock Practice Place (aka Dewey's apartment)**

Dewey Finn's eyes widened significantly as he read through the letter. He read it four times before he could even believe it. As he finished, he yelped with joy.

"Guys!" he called, tearing out of the kitchen of the apartment, racing down the hall to the practice room. "Guys, where are you?" He found the seven fifteen year olds talking and joking around before practice was to start. They all came to attention when Dewey burst in, out of breath, waving the letter.

"We have," he gasped, "been invited to an audition for bands for the ProJams annual thing." The band members chattered excitedly amoungst themselves at the news. Dewey went on to read the letter to the seven teens.

Zack, the guitarist with brown hair and equally brown eyes.

Lawrence, the keyboardist with thick black hair, glasses, and a polite, Asian demeanor about him.

Katie, the bassist, who had thick chestnut hair and a sultry set of deep, dark eyes.

Freddy, the drummer, who had shaggy blond hair, deep chocolate colored eyes, and his very own trademark smile that sent many girls hearts a flutter.

Alicia, one backup singer, was a short, sassy, African American girl with an attitude.

Marta, a small blond with a sweet personality was also a backup singer.

Tomika was the third and final backup singer, was a heavy set African American girl.

These seven band members made up the newly famous School of Rock, only newly famous because of a big screw up in the recording studio, even though they had been together since fifth grade, and were led by none other than Dewey Finn.

"So, ya'll wanna do this?" he asked, and the response was explosive. Just as they were all screaming, Summer, band manager walked in, taken aback by the noise. They all filled her in on what was happening, and she lost her cool, complacent composure, jumping up and down, screaming. When everyone had calmed down, Dewey cancelled practice, sending everyone home so he could respond back to Brad Chaster.


	2. Chapter 2

Alright, ya'll, this is the second chapter in my School of Rock saga. Help me out, here, and give me the damn criticism I want so badly. Just don't do overkill, I don't like that.

**Disclaimer:** I still do not own anything School of Rock, but all the bands mentioned belong to the imagination of my little brother. The _Elements_ characters are all mine, too.

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"Hello, everyone, and welcome to the ProJams Band Auditions. My name is Luke Willow, and I am your host for the evening." A tall, blond haired teen stood on the stage in the tiny Nature's Path Café, speaking to a large crowd that had packed themselves tightly in the building.

"Well," he continued, "What we have planned for you all today is simple: Teen rock bands from all over the country sent in audition tapes to our headquarters right here in New York, and ten of those were lucky enough to be chosen to come here for this final audition. They will each play their debut song for our judges, Alicia, Marta, Tomika, Zack, Katie, Freddy, Lawrence, and Summer, from the famous rock band, School of Rock." He paused, waiting for the applause to die down. "They will all rate each band as they play, from one to ten, ten being the highest, and at the end, the band with the highest score will win our prizes. The prizes are a record deal with ProJams, an international tour with School of Rock, and a free concert with School of Rock, at their school."

He turned to the judges, who all sat at a table at the side of the stage, in the crowd.

"Are you guys ready to meet our first band?"

"Hell yeah, Luke!" cried Alicia smartly. "Bring it on!" Everyone cheered, and Luke introduced the first band as 'Flowing Waters'.

Flowing Waters wasn't bad, but they weren't good either. Out of a possible eighty, School of Rock deemed them worthy of a fifty-six. The bands continued on and off the stage, after Flowing Waters, being 'The Kitty-Kats', the 'Candy Good', 'Elements', 'Rolling on Home', 'Wild Jungle Men', the 'Extreme Sk8rs', 'Rain', the 'Roses', and finally, the 'North-Side Chicas'. The scores mainly stayed from forty-nine, to sixty-eight. Nothing was all that special, even though they were all good. The fourth band, though, received a score of seventy-five, only five points below perfect.

Their song, _From Me To You_, was a hit, and the only way for the eight judges to describe it was _pretty damn amazing_.

"Give it up for _North Side Chicas_!" Luke said as the last band finished and exited the stage. "Alright then," he said, moving onto center stage, "It looks like we have ourselves a winner! _Elements_ has received a score of seventy-five, just below a perfect score. You guys are the winners of this year's ProJams Band Audition!" The four guys who made up _Elements_ came out onto the stage to stand with Luke, all grinning wildly, and high fiving each other.

"Alright, everyone, thanks for coming out to the ProJams' Band Auditions! We hope to see you all next year for the next Audition. Give it up one last time for the winner, _Elements_!" The small crowd that had been tightly packed into the tiny café went wild, and slowly, the mass of people filtered out the double glass doors.

The eight School of Rock band members headed away from their table, and onto the stage, where Luke was talking with the four guys. Of the four, the guitarist wore a green shirt, the bassist wore a purple, the keyboardist wore a blue, and the drummer wore a red. All four guys were assumedly fifteen or sixteen years old, just like the School of Rock band members, and had shaggy haircuts, as though they had been planning a group trip to the salon the day before. Their low-slung baggy jeans suggested an air of not caring, or just wanting to play the music rather than focus on their image. The School of Rock band members noticed this, and liked it. It was a very important factor in being an actual rock band, rather than a bad one with a good picture.

"Hello," greeted Summer, following through with her typical 'band-manager-meeting-a-new-band' routine. "My name is Summer Hathaway, and I'm the manager of School of Rock."

"Hey," said the bassist. "I'm Alex Fisher, and I'm the bassist here. This is Marcus, our guitarist," he added, pointing to the green shirted guy holding a guitar. "That's Nick, our keyboardist," he said, pointing then to the blue shirted guy next to Marcus, and then, "And finally, that's Cody, our drummer." Alex was pointing to the red shirted guy, who came over from standing next to Luke.

Each School of Rock band member then introduced him or herself, saying what part each had in the band. When the introductions were over, Zack said, "That was some pretty sweet stuff you guys played earlier."

"Yeah, thanks man," said Nick. "It won us a coupla' talent shows down back in LA. We were pretty psyched for this today."

"I can imagine," said Alicia. "You musta been working pretty damn hard to be able to play like that. There was really no comparison. You guys just rocked the foundation right down to the center of the Earth." Everyone laughed.

Dewey came up behind School of Rock just then.

"Listen," he said to everyone, "I know we'll all be spending the next year together, but do ya'll wanna grab some pizza before we talk to ProJams about the prizes?" For the second time in a few week time span, the response from the group of teens standing in front of Dewey was explosive.

Out in the tiny back parking lot of the Nature's Path Café, Dewey's van was loaded with all the equipment of _Elements_, and everyone piled in. Though the van was larger than most, it was not nearly large enough for anybody to fit comfortably when there were twelve teens and a large band leader crammed inside.

Luckily for all thirteen of them, _Jackie's Pizza_ was only four blocks down, rather than some obscure place that School of Rock had been expecting, twenty miles out of town. Dewey had proved to be unpredictable when it came to his empty stomach, and had been dragged out to strange places after band practice on several occasions.

At _Jackie's Pizza_, the twelve teens and Dewey found a table at the very side of the restaurant, next to the dusty window that showed off the outside streets of New York. The members of _Elements_ had dispersed itself among School of Rock, so that everyone had the chance to get to know each other. Alex was talking with Zack and Lawrence, Nick was showing off his music knowledge to Freddy, Dewey, Alicia, Marta, and Tomika, while Marcus and Cody debated with Katie and Summer about how money given to cities and states should be used in local police departments.

"Yeah, and my biology teacher said, 'Alex, but I thought you were from fourth period.' I said to her, 'This is fourth period, dingbat.'" Zack and Lawrence laughed.

"My English teacher is the same way," Zack replied. "Total airhead, nothing in there but vocab words, and Lit novels." Alex snorted.

"Ain't they all that way?" he said, and they all laughed again.

Over at the center of the table were Nick, Freddy, Dewey, Alicia, Marta, and Tomika, where Nick was listing off his favorite bands.

"The Sex Pistols, man?" Dewey interjected. "There's no way that's your favorite band. It's been my favorite since, well, forever that I can remember."

"Which is probably only back since last Thursday," snorted Alicia. Everyone sniggered.

"Ha ha, very funny, Alicia," Dewey muttered, taking another slice of pizza.

Near the end of the table, Marcus, Cody, Katie, and Summer gave up debating each other, and were talking about their classes.

"My World History teacher is the most insane person that I've ever met, in my whole life," Summer was saying. "He's always going on about what it was like in 'Nam, and why he's got a massive scar across his belly."

"Yeah, he had to show us every…single…time someone asked either about Japanese architecture, or Indian culture," said Katie. "Why Japan or India, we'll never know." Marcus and Cody laughed.

"We got a teacher like that, 'cept she's always going on about her plants," said Marcus.

"Yeah, yeah," agreed Cody. "'Miss Morris, what's the homework from yesterday?' 'Oh, dear, I don't remember. One of my lovely begonia planters got too much sun this morning, so I've forgotten. The begonias, the beautiful purple begonias, I hope they'll be alright!'"

Katie and Summer laughed, but Marcus and Cody just scowled. The girls quickly shut their mouths.

"It's not in the least bit funny," muttered Marcus severely. He and Cody held their straight faces for a moment longer, and then burst out in laughter when they got a good look at Katie's and Summer's expressions of confusion.

"Hey!" exclaimed Summer. "That was not funny." She took an ice cube out of her cup of soda and threw it at them.

As soon as the twelve teens and Dewey were finished, they met out at the van again.

"Alright," Dewey said loudly to the group, who quickly became quiet. "Tomorrow is our meeting with ProJams to discuss the record deal for _Elements_, the concert for the school, and about the world tour. Let's meet at the building at 8:00, to make sure everyone gets there for the 8:30 meeting. No slumber parties at the hotel, no tequila, no girls in the guys room, no guys in the girls room. Got that?" Everyone nodded, and loaded in the van, going over to the hotel where _School of Rock _and_ Elements_ were staying for the week.

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So? You like? Don't like? Say so in a review…which the button is below. Do it, now.


	3. Chapter 3

Alright, a lot of talking goes on in this chapter, so don't get bored. It's all very important to how I'm developing this story. Dun dun dun… Well, here goes the disclaimer. Read the story, and review! Nanners77 and others have given me some good advice. Thanks, everyone! Ooooh I also want to thank my best friend Ash for actually reading it. She's amazing, people, really.

**Disclaimer: **I own absolutely nothing School of Rock, but I still claim rights to the audition, the names of the bands, _Elements_, and Katie's story hero, Jesse, who happens to be my continuing story hero too. I just couldn't think of another name for it. Oh, and the yogurt I'm eating, well, it's mine too. So I claim rights to the raspberry yogurt I'm eating. That much, I will say is mine. :)

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As soon as the dark van reached the hotel, the twelve teens staggered out, cramped from even the short ride, being so stuffed inside with so many others. Dewey led them all to the front double doors of the hotel, and spoke to them once again.

"Alright, there are two separate rooms here: one for the guys, which there are seven of you, Freddy, Zack, Lawrence, Alex, Nick, Marcus, and Cody, while the room across the hall is for the girls, and there are five of you, Summer, Katie, Alicia, Marta, and Tomika. My room is down the hall from you all, and please remember the rules I laid down. The record company is putting pressure on me to watch over you kids more, so something doesn't happen to you while I'm out or whatever." The teens laughed, and Dewey handed Zack the key to the guys' room, and Summer the key to the girls' room. "Have fun!"

Everyone took their bags, which had been previously dropped off at the hotel by the band so that they wouldn't have to cram the bags in the van with everyone, and stuffed into two separate elevators, creating a few rather compromising situations.

Summer was the last in the first elevator, and when the door almost shut on her, Zack had grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her forward against him.

"Thanks," she said to him as they stood with Alicia, Marta, Lawrence, and Tomika.

"No prob," he laughed, "No problem at all."

In the other elevator, Katie had been the first one on, because finding her bag painted with roses had not been hard. Everyone had just sort of crammed in after her, pretty much squeezing her into the corner. After fumbling with the strap on her bag that was digging into her wrist, Katie then looked up to find herself face to face with Cody, who happened to accidentally be pinning her up against the cold metal wall of the elevator.

"Hey, Katie," he said sheepishly. "Sorry about this, Marcus just decided to ram in here at the last second." Katie looked around and saw that she and Cody shared an elevator with Freddy, Alex, Nick, and Marcus.

"Sorry, Katie," called Marcus from the door. "Didn't mean to push Cody up against you." Marcus sniggered, and added quietly, "Though I'm sure he doesn't mind." Even though he was soft in his speaking, everyone heard him, and Katie blushed, while Cody looked back at Marcus, mouthing, 'Fuck you, dude.'

As soon as the two elevators met up on the fourteenth floor, the girls went to room 1404, and the guys went to room 1405, right across the hall.

In room 1404, the girls found two large beds, and one cot off to the side near the window. Katie and Summer instantly called the bed closer to the door and the bathroom, Marta and Tomika took the bed in the middle, and Alicia took the cot. After unpacking, everyone pulled out their food, consisting mainly of strawberry iced Pop-Tarts, Cheetos, and fruit flavored gummy snacks, and played cards on Marta and Tomika's bed.

After a while, Katie went to find her backpack that held her notebooks and MP3 player, and found that she didn't have it.

"Hey, guys, have you seen my backpack?" she asked her friends.

"No, haven't seen it since we were all getting our bags from downstairs," said Alicia. Groaning, Katie realized that either she'd left it downstairs in the lobby, or one of the boys had taken it by mistake.

"I'll be back soon," she said to the others, and they waved her out, intense in their game.

Walking across the hall, she hesitated, and then knocked on the door. From inside of the room, Katie heard, "Dude, turn the music off, there's someone at the door!" After a moment, the door opened, and there stood Cody, his hair dripping wet.

"Hey Katie," he said sheepishly. "Sorry, just got outta the shower."

"Forget it," she replied. "Listen, I came by to ask a question." From inside the room, someone called, "Code, man, what're you doing? This game is going down the longer you take there. Who is it?"

"It's Katie," he called behind him. Most of the guys came up behind him.

"Hey Katie, what's up?" asked Freddy.

"Has anyone seen my backpack?" she asked. "I can't find it anywhere." Zack let out a strange snort.

"Is it the one with the rose stitched onto the front pocket?" he asked. Katie nodded.

"That's the one," she told him, and he and most of the guys went back into the room. Zack came back out holding her backpack, and she took it from his extended arm. "Thanks."

"Sure," Zack said, waving it off. "See you tomorrow."

"See you," she replied, and he left, leaving Katie and Cody at the door.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, too," she told him as he ran his hand through his wet hair.

"Yeah, tomorrow," he said, and they both said goodnight, Cody shutting the door, and Katie going back to her shared room with the girls.

When she entered, she flopped down on her back onto the bed she and Summer shared. Shutting her eyes, she listened to the sounds of the card game going on on the next bed. When it was through, the other girls noticed that she had returned.

"Did you get your bag back?" asked Marta. Katie nodded, and as proof, held the bag up, still lying on the bed.

"Do you wanna play?" asked Summer, turning to her best friend. "It's BS, your favorite." Katie waved it off.

"Nah, you guys play without me this time. I'm going out onto the balcony."

"Whatever, your choice," grumped Tomika, who was never in a very good mood after traveling, even in Dewey's van for a few blocks. Katie laughed softly, and crossed the room with her backpack. She slid open the sliding glass door, slipped out, and shut it behind her, leaning over onto the metal railing that separated her from the city streets below.

She sighed as she watched the beautiful colors of the sunset played out onto the dusky sky. Looking down, she gasped, and looked quickly back up again. Katie was terribly afraid of heights, though focusing on other things while in the situation that involved a height taller than her own made it easier to cope with.

Katie then occupied her mind with thoughts of the band audition earlier in the day. She hadn't told anyone this yet, but while _Elements_ had been on stage, she'd seen Cody drumming through a gap between bassist Alex and guitarist Marcus, and he'd seen her too, and had winked at her. Had it just been a figment of her imagination, or had he really winked at her?

Shaking it off, Katie sat on the floor of the balcony, taking a thick, blue notebook from her backpack. Finding a pen from the bottom of the bag with difficulty, Katie set to work, rereading her last installment in the story that she was writing, grasping pieces of new inspiration as she read. Opening to the next open page, Katie began to write, and lost herself completely in it.

After a while, Summer joined her, being so quiet that Katie didn't even notice that she was there.

"So, what's Jesse's newest challenge in your new addition?" she asked, the only one who knew about Katie's writing, and all about the stories and characters she used. Jesse was the continuing hero in all her stories, and the long continuous one she was writing. Katie jumped, and then laughed.

"Jesse's best friend has betrayed him," she replied, then reading the segment that she had written so far. When she was through, the two girls just sat in silence, watching the colors of the sunset fade on the minimal cloud coverage in the sky.

"You know, Kate," began Summer, "You could be a best-selling author at age fifteen. Right now, Katie, or as her full name suggests, Catalina Brown could be the fifteen year old best-selling author of the stories involving her reigning hero, Jesse." Katie smiled.

"I'm never going to become a best-selling author," she said to her best friend. "I doubt my writing will ever be good enough to be published, much less be bought enough to make such a list." Summer snorted.

"Catalina Brown, who are you kidding? Yourself? Because it's sure not working with me. You're a truly amazing writer, and you know it. Your writing as a fifteen year old sophomore-to-be is better than that of anyone in our class, and better than most of that of anyone not in our class."

Katie smiled. It was always funny to listen to Summer freak out over her writing.

"Anyway, I want to know what's up with you," Summer said matter-of-factly. "You never skip out on a game of BS. NEVER. Which one of them is it? I mean, which one of _Elements_ is it?" Katie sighed. Her best friend knew her too damn well, knowing that she only lay down in bed willingly when there was a guy involved.

"Cody," she replied, not fighting Summer. The girl was too strongly willed. "I don't know why, but after the whole fiasco with Freddy, he sort of seems like, well, the best thing that's happened to me _since_ Freddy."

Katie and Freddy had briefly gone out during the beginning of freshman year, and it had ended with Katie's sophomore cousin pinning Freddy against the wall and kissing him. Katie had walked in on Freddy trying to escape, but Matilda not letting up. It had been over for the drummer and bassist anyway, so they didn't go away from the relationship with bad feelings, and actually had a really strong friendship within the band and Forest Hills High School, where the whole band now attended, rather than a private school.

"Ahh, another drummer," Summer commented, and Katie blushed, looking away.

"I know, I know, but I just feel that it's going to end up right this time." Summer smiled.

"Good, very good. First impression feelings are always very good indicators of how the whole thing will turn out. Now, as I recall, you and Freddy had a fight the first time you met, so that was doomed from the beginning, even though you ended up going out for a little while." Summer always analyzed everything, and this was not going to be an exception. "Now with Cody, I can actually understand there really _being_ an existing future for the two of you." Katie laughed, and packed up her bag.

"Thanks, Sum. It makes me feel better when you do that analyzing thing. Whaddaya say we go in and play some BS and I actually win this time?" Katie suggested, and the two friends went back into the room for the night. Katie gave one last look at the now hardly existent colors in the sky, and smiled, knowing where her refuge would be for the next few days.

With Cody 

As soon as the door shut behind Katie, Cody leaned against the wall, shaking his head.

"What's up with you, man?" asked Marcus from across the room. "You seem…preoccupied?" Cody walked over to the bed where all the guys, minus him and Lawrence, who was reading something about the Spanish Inquisition, were playing cards.

"Nah, I'm good. Just…I don't know," he muttered, sitting next to Zack.

"It's Katie, isn't it?" asked Alex, tossing his cards into the pile in the center and leaning back against the headboard.

"Why would you think that?" Cody said, ruffling his fingers through his wet hair. Nick snorted.

"You only act this bewildered when a girl comes around, a girl you feel attachment to. You haven't acted this way since…what happened…" Cody stiffened, and got up, looking out the window, to see a small neighborhood full of mothers calling their children in to dinner.

"I don't know," he repeated. "I know I shouldn't do anything, but I…I feel so strange when I'm around her."

"I know how you feel," said Freddy. "The first time I saw her, third grade, it was like she cast a spell over me. She was always so nice to everyone, and I was always getting into trouble. One day in eighth grade, I blurted it out, just how much I liked her." He took his jacket off. "We went out for a few months, and it was fun and everything, but we both realized that we didn't have as much potential couple wise as, say, Summer and Zack do." Zack blushed. "It ended okay, but then I got into a spot of trouble, and realized that she deserved so much more that I could give her."

Cody turned to face him. "I've only known her for less than four hours. I can't be feeling this way, about anyone. Not now. Alex, Marcus, and Nick, you guys have had trouble with girls, but you've always been able to pull through. Alex, you're the popular guy that all the girls are always over. Marcus, you're the brooding-in-the-corner guy that girls are always so intrigued with. Nick, well, you're just the nice guy who's always willing to help a girl carry her books. I'm not afraid to ask a girl out. I'm just not the type of guy that most girls are psyched about dating."

The room sat in silence for a few moments as everyone tried to solve Cody's problem in their head.

"Why would girls not want to date you?" asked Lawrence, who nobody had realized was listening in on the conversation. "I saw the way some of the girls in the other bands were looking at you. Why would they not want to date you?" Cody murmured something unintelligible.

"What's that?" asked Zack. Cody sighed heavily.

"Let's put it this way: If girls knew what kind of trouble I've been in, they'd want nothing more to do with me whatsoever."

"Katie's never cared what trouble someone's been in," said Freddy. "I did some stupid things along the years, and she dated me. True, it didn't work out, but she did date one other guy that I can remember. Wesley, this guy who used to go to our school. He'd been expelled from a public school, and his parents were willing to pay whatever price it was to get him into a school with good influences. At our school, he was always caught smoking out back, doing graffiti on the alley walls, among other things. But Katie found out he was a nice guy. We didn't like that she was dating him at first, but it got easier to handle once we got to know him."

"They really got along, until he just stopped coming to school one day," said Zack. "We watched it tear Katie apart, worrying what had happened to her boyfriend. One day, after band practice, we turned on the news, and saw that he'd been killed by some gang he'd angered. She didn't cry for him, because she knew that he was a good guy, a good guy who'd done some stupid things. She'd seen past the things he did, because she's good that way."

"So she will never care what you've done, as long as she knows that the good guy's in there," concluded Lawrence. Cody smiled at them.

"Thanks," he said simply, coming to sit with everyone. As Zack dealt out the cards, he asked, "So what'd you do to make you think that Katie wouldn't like you?"

"I don't really want to talk about it," Cody muttered, his newly brightened mood souring slightly. "No one really needs to know."

As everyone fell asleep that night, two people sleepily thought of each other, wondering if it would ever be just how they wanted it.

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Alright, well, that turned out better than I'd expected it to. You must realize that I've not had a lot of inspiration lately, for a School of Rock type of setting. It's more Harry Potter central, right now. Anywho, press that tiny little purplish blue button that says 'review' on it. Love you all…:)


	4. Chapter 4

I know this is a very, very, impossibly short chapter, but band camp starts in four days, and I'm way too excited to write anything beyond this. I'll be there about six days, and will be back with, possibly, another chapter.

_I've also decided that if I do not have fifteen reviews by the time I get back, I won't update. So there. Review._

**Disclaimer:** I do not own School of Rock, and do not claim rights to anything that you recognize from the movie School of Rock. Again, I do own the yogurt, but not School of Rock.

The next morning, the girls, the guys, and Dewey all met in the lobby of the hotel, doing a head count before getting back into the van, and heading over to ProJam's Record's headquarters. Dewey was trying to count everybody, but after failing twice to see everybody, Summer got up on a chair in the lobby, and counted everyone.

"Everyone's here, Mr. S," she told Dewey exasperatedly. The man then cleared his throat.

"Alright, now, thanks to Tinkerbell here, everyone's accounted for, and we're off to see the Wizard!" The twelve teens cheered, and all followed Dewey out to the van. Tomika groaned as they reached it.

"Do we really have to go in the van, Mr. S?" she asked. "'Cause if there's a chance that I don't have to get in that thing with twelve other people, I'm takin' it." Dewey put a hand on Tomika's shoulder.

"Tomika, Turkey Sub, don't worry; the ride's only a half hour…ish…maybe…You'll live." The girl groaned again as all the teens crammed into the back, with Dewey finding his way to the driver's seat, and Lawrence once again sitting in the front passenger's seat.

"Everyone buckled in?" Dewey asked, turning around to check up on all the teens stuffed into the back, where the side-long seats were filled, and Katie and Summer were forced to sit on the ground, against the legs of their friends.

"Are you _kidding me_?" cried Summer, as she leaned back against Alicia's ankle, who yelped in surprise. Dewey turned back around unconcernedly.

"Then we're off!" he said ceremoniously, and the half hour, uncomfortable journey to the ProJam's headquarters began.

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As soon as the van reached the tall building where ProJam's was supposed to be, Freddy grabbed the handle that unlatched the back door, and everyone tumbled out.

"Thanks a lot," mumbled Zack as he pulled himself out from beneath the pile of tenth graders.

As everyone assembled in front of the building, they stared at the grandeur of the amazing structure. There were stories that heightened it beyond imaginability, and every window was scrubbed to fit the description of 'squeaky-clean'. Dewey led them all into the building, and headed up to the registration desk, where two women were sitting behind a marble counter that was as shiny as the outside building itself.

"Can I help you?" asked one of them, her horn – rimmed glasses perched on the tip of her overly pointed nose. Her poofed up hair practically screamed, _'I _want_ to look exactly like I did in the sixties.'_

"Yeah," drawled Dewey, leaning against the counter. "We're here for a meeting with Brad Chaster, for the record deal for _Elements_." The woman eyed him suspiciously.

"I'm sorry, sir, we don't allow people to just walk in off the street and meet with executive Chaster," she replied snootily, looking around at the twelve teens. "And who are all these children?" Dewey became frustrated.

"Look, lady, we're School of Rock, and this is Elements. We're here for the meeting about the record deal, concert, and international tour for them, with Brad Chaster."

She still didn't look convinced, and thought them to be a group of fakers off the street.

"I'm going to ask you to leave the building. If you don't, I'll call security, bub, so get out, now." Just then, a man in a dark suit stepped out of the elevator, and hurried over to the desk.

"Lynda, what's the hold up?" he asked the old woman.

"This man and these kids insist that they have a meeting with Executive Chaster," she said importantly. The man laughed at her.

"This man is Dewey Finn, and these kids are School of Rock, and Elements, the bands. I trust that you didn't give them any trouble?"

"W-well, sir, I-I…" she stammered, looking around embarrassedly, blushing amid her heavy makeup.

"Never mind, that. I'm Edwin Morson, Mr. Chaster's assistant. Come on up, everyone." They all followed him into the elevator, and Katie stared in awe at the massive space in it. When Cody followed right after her into the lift, she smiled to herself, remembering how they had been so close the night before, going up to the fourteenth floor. This time, he stood beside her, while on her other side, stood Summer.

"Are you all ready for it? Ready for your turn to become rock stars?" Morson asked. The Elements' members answered with a nervous 'hell yeah', or 'more ready that ever'.

The elevator continued to rise, and Katie became nervous. She hated elevators, and along with heights, they were her biggest fear.

"How much longer in here?" she asked Morson quietly, fidgeting with her hands and the bottom of her long, blue shirt. Everyone turned to her.

"What's wrong, Posh?" asked Dewey.

"Don't like elevators," she replied, looking up at the dial where the floor number was displayed. They were at floor twelve, of thirty-one.

"Mr. Chaster wanted a penthouse office, so it's on the thirty first floor. Sorry, babe," Morson said, not looking very sympathetic. Katie raised her eyebrow at the term 'babe'.

"That guy doesn't know us all," Summer whispered to her, giggling just a little. "He doesn't know that last time someone called any one of us girls 'babe', they got their ass kicked by Dewey." Dewey had felt overly protective with the girls, and thought that guys who were being forward with them should be eliminated from the scene.

Soon enough, though, the elevator cage let them out onto the thirty-first floor. When the teens all entered the penthouse office, they were instantly amazed. The doors let out onto a deep red carpeting that complimented the gold wall paint, and gold fabric furniture that littered the front room. Expensive looking paintings were hung up on the wall, and sculptures of strange animals were held up on tall pedestals.

A man came out of a room to the far end, next to the massive window that looked out onto the street. Katie looked at him, feeling that he was strangely familiar. Who was it?

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I know, I know, it's incredibly short. I was amazed when I thought the chapter to be done, and I added just a little more, because I knew I'd be getting yelled at one way or another. So, I've decided to dedicate this chapter to _whatever101_, the anonymous reviewer, because they wanted me to update so desperately. Love you…!

Remember, I'll be back on July 28, so don't have a coronary, please.


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